When did the caste system in India start?
We do not probably know. Perhaps there were guilds of people
engaged in different occupations and on various other factors like
tribes, regions in which particular people lived, languages they
spoke, and the traditions they followed. Then Aryans came with
their four-fold division of society, the priests (Brahmins), the
warriors (Kshatriyas), the traders and agriculturists (Vaishyas),
and the salaried workers (Shudras). The two systems coalesced to
give a four-fold division with hundreds of sub-divisions. The caste
system is now on the way out. The Indian Constitution is strongly
against it.